of Massage & Well-Being

Back Pain Can Start With Your Feet

Some of us recall the song ‘Dem Bones‘ by American songwriter James Weldon Johnson, with lyrics ‘the shin bone is connected to the knee bone’ and so on up and down the body. While he wrote it as a spiritual anthem to the Almighty, it always reminds me how the interconnection of the body’s sections goes a long way to explain how body pain can find its origin in an area that is not even hurting you.

Our Reach Massage sessions seek to explore, understand and release over-tension, or tightness, that cause restriction and pain. Tight IT bands, glutes, hamstrings, etc can wreak havoc up and down your body. Our trained staff that can feel each of the areas and then treat pain from its various sources. It is remarkable how some clients come in with a neck pain on one side, to find out that an untreated ankle sprain some years back may well contribute to it. By the body reacting to tension and pain, we set up protections and the consequences of tension, over use and fatigue in muscle groups.

One easy way to help your situation is to roll a tennis ball with the bottom of your feet. Place a tennis ball on a carpet or yoga mat and step on it, careful not to step too hard or put all your weight on it. You can roll it back and forth along, heel to toe, on the arch first, then slowing rolling it into the middle of the foot then the outside edge. You may feel some pain in the arch, but there is good pain and bad pain. The good stuff hurts a bit and feels like muscles under tension…that need a break. As the song says, “it hurts so good”, that is what we want to find.

If your feet are compromised by tightness or fatigue, it sets up a chain reaction up the leg, to the hips and from there, the back, spine and neck. Through us golfers and hockey players are amazed to find the additional balance and control they have once this simple tennis ball routine is employed.

Try this easy step before or after sport, or when your feet at tired. It is just one piece of the puzzle, but your feet are the first to touch the ground. Making good, stable contact with the ground is a proper foundation to pain free living.